THE MORTALITY RISK OF PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY PATIENTS - A FOLLOW-UP-STUDY

The mortality risk of 1433 psychiatric emergency patients was investig ated (mean follow-up, 7 years and 5 months) by using life-table method s, standard mortality ratios (SMR) and control groups. Males were show n in general to have twice the risk of females in our group. The summa rized SMR was 2.9 for males and 2.2 for females when compared with the general population. When overall odds ratios (OR) were used, the risk s were even higher when comparing different gender age groups and leng th of follow-up. Younger males especially had a high mortality risk. E xcess mortality was mainly due to unnatural deaths (suicides, accident s) among the young and middle-aged, but natural deaths were also signi ficantly increased, mainly because of excess deaths among the elderly. Parasuicidal behaviour was shown to be a risk factor for future suici des, and age gender differences were found. Young parasuicidal males h ad significantly higher risks than young parasuicidal females. Females with affective disorder and males with alcoholism accounted for most of the suicides observed over the follow-up period. Compared with cont rols, male parasuicidal behaviour and females with affective disorder were shown to have a significantly increased risk for future suicides.